Have the devs responded to Dawntrail reception?

[BigBoom550]

They will never address it, citizen. Square is too prideful.




The dark times will pass.

It's not even Square. Corporations celebrate their success and avoid remarking on failures. Admitting fault admits you made a mistake and hence, admits you know you should have done something else.

If you want 'acknowledgement' of the issue, pay attention to what's said and what isn't said. The closest the devs will come to it is remarking that 'We are pleased to see players are enjoying the gameplay of Dawntrail' while remaining quiet on the story aspect for the next few months, if not longer.

[Racen]

nothing for them to say, some people liked it, some people didn't. those that didn't are vocal, those that enjoyed it don't see any reason to argue with y'all. WL was fine, the VA direction was so-so, but Sena was great. Gulool was awesome, Koana was a nice character. Was cool to finally find out what happened to the lalafell who disappeared from the South Sea Isles and makes me wonder if Emet actually went to the Golden City or just heard about it. Glad Krile got some closure, I liked Wuk Evu so much.

[Striker44]

But there's no real hook like there was in ARR. No ongoing political tension, the worldbuilding is as deep as a puddle, and no greater looming threats. There's just the hourglass, which brings us right back to Amaurot again.

See, the thing is - this is purely your personal opinion. My own opinion is the complete opposite - I thought DT did an excellent job with world-building. When we reach the point of acknowledging that our takes are subjective opinions and not objective facts, we have a reason for our thoughts to be given merit.

[oeil]

"Nothing for them to say" is delusion; even if there might be "spam" reviews they cannot deny if they google their own expansion that it has been sitting very polarizing.
Will they say something? Probably not. I think there's going to be a bit of tip-toe'ing around it, and maybe something along the lines of "we will work hard towards 8.0!" but that also depends on if they actually pivot and can alter the post 7.0 story.
(Which I doubt, no idea what goes on internally in their offices but these expansions are planned out years in advance with revisions/checks months towards expansions).

I don't like this whole negativity is necessarily an argumentative narrative, because clearly most of the vocal player base care about the game and are raising their voices to put forth their frustrations so the devs can listen and review feedback.

I think the recent Finaland interview was the most interesting because I think they were not sugarcoating things and made Yoshi-P answer some relatively tough questions, I'm curious to see where things goes from here.

[Astronema]

See, the thing is - this is purely your personal opinion. My own opinion is the complete opposite - I thought DT did an excellent job with world-building. When we reach the point of acknowledging that our takes are subjective opinions and not objective facts, we have a reason for our thoughts to be given merit.

They built a bridge to nowhere... The game gives me wow cataclysm flashbacks now.

[Garolymar]

See, the thing is - this is purely your personal opinion. My own opinion is the complete opposite - I thought DT did an excellent job with world-building. When we reach the point of acknowledging that our takes are subjective opinions and not objective facts, we have a reason for our thoughts to be given merit.

At the end of ARR they setup multiple city states with different forms of governments, one being a giant cesspool of corruption that lead into major events that caused another expansion, They hinted at Ishgard, the Garlean threat was set up. The beast tribes were fleshed out with more than just "we're nice lil traders" or "we make pots!" We got to see their gods, their ideals in physical form and explore their good and dark sides of how they live. they also had to set up a multitude of characters like the Scions, world leaders, Aymeric, Gaius, Allagans Meracydia and the dragons, it's crazy how much they set up all under the stress of reviving a dead mmo.

Then Dawntrail comes along and about the only thing we got out of Tural is a shiny rock that solves a problem one of the scions was already trying to solve. The World building was terrible in this expansion and basically ruined Tural for the foreseeable future. I really hope they get better writers before they touch Meracydia or the shards. I guess my expectations were too high maybe, but they weren't even set up by Shadowbringers or Endwalker, I was expecting ARR levels of world building. Instead we got paper thin caricatures and taco bell.

[Zaniel]

See, the thing is - this is purely your personal opinion. My own opinion is the complete opposite - I thought DT did an excellent job with world-building. When we reach the point of acknowledging that our takes are subjective opinions and not objective facts, we have a reason for our thoughts to be given merit.

Yeah that sounds like a good argument at first until someone's opinion is that dog-poop is tasty and nutritious and my opinion is that this is not correct. Then that opinion is sitting in a percentile that is somewhere out at the orbit of Pluto and doesn't really represent a serious, discuss-able viewpoint.

[Akonyl]

Honestly, I don't think this is the lowest point for FF14. I agree, the MSQ before 97 is pretty bad, but after that, it's pretty solid, I liked it a lot. And the actual gameplay content is amazing compared to what we got in SHB/EW.

The 90-97 story experience was a low point, sure. But as I'm playing this game for the next two years, what will be the actual things I'll be interacting with in that time? The story I've already done, or the fights I'm currently doing? If the upcoming dungeons, raids and expedition zone content keeps up the same quality as the current battle content, this expansion will be great.

[Voidmage]

Honestly, I don't think this is the lowest point for FF14. I agree, the MSQ before 97 is pretty bad, but after that, it's pretty solid, I liked it a lot. And the actual gameplay content is amazing compared to what we got in SHB/EW.

The 90-97 story experience was a low point, sure. But as I'm playing this game for the next two years, what will be the actual things I'll be interacting with in that time? The story I've already done, or the fights I'm currently doing? If the upcoming dungeons, raids and expedition zone content keeps up the same quality as the current battle content, this expansion will be great.

I see where you are coming from with that and I don‘t disagree really with that stance.

That said though people have different interests. For me the story is first and foremost so I will it badly if it is bad no matter the gameplay.
I think many people complaining also give the story a big importance. The game itself prides itself on it normally and the devs make no secret of parading the story either (rightfully in my opinion).
There is a reason Ishikawa was applauded to much at the fanfests.

Yes the gameplay is fun and I love pic but that doesn‘t make the sour taste of the story disappear for me.

[Iximaz]

The story and speculating about what comes next, picking apart character interactions and thinking about the relationships between the characters, is what keeps me coming back. It's what I think about while I'm flying around FATE farming or what I'm talking about with my static on raid night. I love this game, but it's not the gameplay that got me to sink 13,000 hours into it. I fell in love with the world and the characters, but with Dawntrail it felt like the writers didn't share that same love.